SCOTUS clerks will soon be ordered to hand over their cell phone records and sign affidavits, as part of the investigation to discover who was behind the leak of the draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade.
The draft opinion on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, authored by Samuel Alito and seemingly backed by 4 of the other SCOTUS Justices, was leaked to Politico at the beginning of May, and suggested that the court would overturn Roe v. Wade when published.
Chief Justice John Roberts immediately ordered the Marshal of the Court to launch an investigation into the source of the leak, which he slammed at the time as being a “betrayal of the confidences of the Court,” and an “egegious breach of trust,” but that it would not succeed in undermining “the integrity” of SCOTUS operations.
As a result, three sources told CNN on Monday that SCOTUS clerks are set to be forced to hand over their cell phone records to the court, and sign an affidavit when doing so. It is unclear as to what scope, including content or time period, any such phone search would comprise of.
SCOTUS still hasn't found the Roe leaker. Clerks consider lawyering up. 'Leak investigation heats up as clerks are asked for phone records in unprecedented move.' From @CNN: https://t.co/SW0SsKSQXz
— Byron York (@ByronYork) May 31, 2022
Some clerks are allegedly so concerned that they are “considering hiring outside counsel,” CNN claimed. “That’s what similarly situated individuals would do in virtually any other government investigation,” said an anonymous appellate lawyer. “It would be hypocritical for the Supreme Court to prevent its own employees from taking advantage of that fundamental legal protection.”
Conservative attorney Jonathan Turley said that the affidavits relating to the phone searches would “come with the most worrisome change” for the SCOTUS leaker, as “once signed, the leaker will reaffirm his or her potential criminal liability”:
“After all, the leaker may have wisely avoided using the cellphone or creating digital tracks. The affidavit is a sworn statement to federal investigators. If false, it would establish that a federal crime has been committed. Under 18 U.S.C. 1001, it is a federal crime to knowingly and willfully make a materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the United States.
Turley noted that if the leaker were ever to “go public or be uncovered in the future, there would be a risk of not simply disbarment, but criminal prosecution.” Lying on an affidavit would therefore be another potential federal crime added to the plate of the leaker, who may have also broken 18 U.S.C. 641 and 2071.
As Valiant News reported, following the leak, a memo from the Department of Homeland Security warned that radical abortion activists were plotting violence against SCOTUS Justices and others, including places of worship, and peaceful pro-life demonstrators.
